Blazing Fire in the Old City

The year the old city of Luochuan was demolished, Chen Jin was seventeen. His father had died in the mines, his mother had left, and all he had left was a rusty wrench and a repair shed that was about to be bulldozed. He skipped class, got into fights, and talked back to teachers, but he’d never stolen a cent from anyone or bullied an old person in the neighborhood. He simply understood too well: In the old district, the dogs that don’t bite are the first to get kicked to death. Old Dog wanted to open a noodle shop. A Jiu wanted to study in the south. Captain Lin wanted to pull him out of the mud. But Scarface Qiang’s men showed up. His exam admission ticket was torn in half, and someone doused the repair shed in gasoline in the middle of the night. Chen Jin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and tucked the wrench into the back of his waistband. “I can rot in the old city, but don’t you dare touch the people I want to protect.” This isn’t the martial world. It’s Luochuan in 2005. It’s just a group of wild kids left behind by the times, trying to stand upright as human beings amid the bulldozers and sirens.